Page 12
Summer Session Kansan
Tuesday, June 18, 1959
BOOKS
By Jerry Knudson
THE BEST SHORT PLAYS, 20th Anniversary Edition, edited by Margaret Mayorga, Beacon, $2.25.
The New York Times has called Margaret Mayorga, the editor of this collection of short plays, "the high priestess of the short play in America." Perhaps this sense of destiny is responsible for a group of plays marked by avant-garde subtleties and esoteric experimentalism.
One feels that here are the by-streams of the last 20 years and not even the main currents of American drama. This snobbishness is indicated even in the choice of title for the book. "One-act plays," we are told, is definitely old hat. We have here "short plays." The difference eludes me.
However, this is a stimulating anthology, sprinkled with a few standard works. Tennessee Williams is represented by "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" and Eugene O'Neill by "In the Zone." Paul Greene's "In Abraham's Bosom" and William Saroyan's "The Man with the Heart in the Highlands" round out the brief attention paid to one-act classics.
This book is not recommended for those wishing a comprehensive view of the best one-act playwriting. "Thirty' Famous One-Act Plays" (edited by Bennett Cerf and Van H. Cartmell, Modern Library Giant, $2.65) much better serves this purpose. This anthology includes such plays as Clifford Odets' "Waiting for Lefty," August Strindberg's "Miss Julie," W. W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw," Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Aria da Capo," Anatole France's "The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife," Anton Chekov's "The Boor," Irwin Shaw's "Bury the Dead," J. M. Syngue's "Riders to the Sea," and William Saroyan's "Hello Out There."
Back to Miss Mayorga's selection. Her collection is distinguished by an absence of violence, an absence of almost any action, for that matter. A first play by a young writer, William I. Oliver, published here for the first time, does deal with violence.
The son in "The Stallion" kills his father with an axe when he attempts to "tame" the boy by separating him from his horse. "The Long Fall" by Carroll V. Howe recounts an accident on a bridge construction project, and policemen shoot a Mexican in southern California in "Summer Fury" by James Broughton.
But these plays deal mainly with psychological niceties. They are, almost without exception, plays which rotate around finely conceived characterizations. "A Trap Is a Small Place," for example, by Marjean Perry, falls in the tradition of Strindberg's "The Stronger" or Tennessee Williams" "Something Unspoken."
Two young women have roomed together for ten years. One tries to become married; the other blocks her. Their apartment becomes a trap with no exit.
"Fortunata Writes a Letter" by Theodore Apstein is a character sketch of a simple Mexican woman who decides to give her chickens to the starving children of the world. "Through a Glass Darkly" by Stanley Richards examines anti-Semitism; "In Abraham's Bosom" by Paul Green looks at Negro prejudice.
Maxwell Anderson is represented by a radio script heard in the early years of World War II, "The Miracle of the Danube," which places Christ at the atrocities committed by the Germans, "The Fall of the City" by Pulitizer Prize-winner Archibald MacLeish poses the terrifying choice between freedom or slavery in a brilliant short verse play.
"The Triumph of the Egg" by Sherwood Anderson is a poignant insight into a man who tries to entertain his customers at his all-night eating place. "Brewsie and Willie" by Gertrude Stein is a surprisingly good play about soldiers returning home after the war.
Humor apparently does not sell well with Miss Mayorga. "Devil Take a Whittier" by Weldon Stone discovers tall tales and laughter in the Ozarks; "The Fisherman" by Jonathan Tree is a heavenly fantasy, and "The Soldier Who Became a Great Dane" by Joseph Shore and Richard Lincoln spoofs the Army.
ALL THE KING'S MEN, by Robert Penn Warren. Bantam, 50 cents.
First published in 1946, "All the King's Men" has powered its way to greatness. It is unquestionably the best book yet written of the rise and fall of a Gulf State dictator, who, few will argue, is Huey Long. A Broadway version appeared; the 1949 movie was one of the best of its time; a fine television drama based on the book appeared a year or so ago. Now it is available in Bantam Classics, the story of Jack Burden, the reporter and hatchet man, and Willie Stark, a man of great potential who died as violently as he had lived.—CMP
THE ORIGINS OF ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION by Walter A. Fairservis, Jr. Mentor, 50 cents.
Dr. Fairiservis traces the beginnings of religion, ethics, art and technology of early man in Asia from the Ice Age to the great dynasties. He has worked from meager evidence for "time and its compatriots, erosion and decay, treat humans and their cultures very harshly."
He notes that the development of cultures in prehistory was closely bound to the means and method of food acquisition. East Asia developed from the spread of agriculture developed initially in the Near East perhaps as early as the seventh or eighth millennium B.C.
As the agriculture moved eastward, it displaced primitive hunting cultures. The early agriculturists were grain farmers, limited strictly by climatic zones, until the development of a rice culture in China in the second millennium B.C.
Similarities in art styles and artifacts between China and Siberia on one side and those of the Eskimo and Indian northwest coast in the New World are examined. "Columbus sought Cathay, and in a way he found it, for the aboriginal peoples of the New World had known Cathay in its wider sense in times remote from 1942," the author concludes.
Weber, Don Dean, GR, 1345 Ky
Weber, James L, 4AS, 1231 La
Wedkin, Cleda, 4ED
Weekie, Joyce M, 2E, commuting
Weema, George S, 2A, 500 W11
Whmeier, Gilbert E, GR, commuting
Wels, Jerry S, GR, 1220 La
Welch, Ellen R, GR
Welch, Kermit K, 3ED, 12 Stouffer 4
Welch, Larry D, 2LW, 2 Stouffer 2
Welch, Margaret A, 4AS, Gower
Welch, Merrill V, 2EN, 500 W11
Weld, Edwin J, 2AE, Ohio
Wells, Billie J, 3E, 5Stouffer 1
Wells, Bruce W, 3AS, 5StouFFER 1
Wells, Jack N, GR, 1018 Ky
Weltmer, Lee Arden, 4EN, 1215 Oread
Welly, Charles R, 3EN, 1605 W2 Ter
Wenger, Janice Ann, 4AS, 1518 Lillae
Wernke, Edwin M, 4EN, 2006 Mitchell
Wertzbagger, John J, 4AS, 907 Ark
Wesner, George M, commuting
West, Gerald Y, GR, 125 Ind
Westilwur, Gilbert, GR, commuting
Westhusin, Gary T, GR, 1144 La
Wettig, Edward F, 4AS, 1320 Ohio
Whalen, Bernard E, 3LW, 17 W14
Whaley, Earl R, GR, commuting
Wheaton, Wilbur D, GR, 1500 Crescent
Whim, Jean, 1FAM, commuting
White, Grace J, 2Alacla
White, R Milford, GR, 1638 Barker
Whitney, Chester B, GR, 333 Miss
Whitney, David Alan, 4BU, 5 Stouffer 3
Whitney, Lynette Kay, 3NR, 1443 Alumni
Whitney, William R, 9ZZ, 1631 Mass
Whison, M J Remory, GR, commuting
Wickle, Robert F, GR, commuting
Wickley, Catherine M, 9ZZ, commuting
Widner, Louise GR, commuting
Wildip, Digiata J, 3NR, 1443 Alumni
Wiener, Fred D, 2FA, 1246 W Campus
Wiens, A Wayne, GR
Wildenthal, Bryan H, GR, Stouffer L, GR
Wiley, Anna C, 3AS, 631 La
Wiley, Karen K, 9ZZ, 1306 W 22 Ter
Wilkinson, Theodore C, 9AS, 125 Vt
Will, Muriel M, GR, commuting
Williams, Cecar W, 2LW, 1213 Iowa
Williams, Delories M, GR, 3AS, 126 Locust
Williams, Gailyn L, 3FA, 1242 La
Williams, Helen J, GR, commuting
Williams, Ira, GR, 2000 Barker
Williams, James E, 4BU, 10 SouFFER 4
Williams, Juanita H, GR, 1314 W 19Ter
Williams, Melvin A, GR, 919 Murrow
Williams, Mildred, 9ZZ, commuting
Williams, Oscar Jr, 9LW, commuting
Williams, Richard A, 5EM, 1005 Ind
Williams, Vance J, GR
Williams, Winthrop, 4FA, 1021½ Mass
Williamson, Elwin E, GR
Williamson, Margaret, GR
Willis, Warren L, 4EN, commuting
Wourleur, Byron J, 5EN, 10 Stouffer 5
VI 3-9662
VI 2-1545
VI 3-5660
VI 3-9123
VI 2-0736
VI 3-9411
VI 2-0211
VI 3-1494
VI 3-9893
VI 3-6556
VI 3-8977
VI 3-4404
VI 3-1957
VI 3-4502
VI 3-5590
VI 3-7880
*Zahn, Otto C. G, 1132 Tenn
*Zumbrunn, Arroline, G, commuting
AEC Gives Grant To Bacteriology
An Atomic Energy Commission grant of $2,743 has been received by the department of bacteriology for the purchase of new research equipment.
Dr. David Faretsky, chairman of the department, said the funds will be used to purchase radiation detecting and counting devices, in the general nature of Geiger counters, for use in experiments involving microbial systems and their utilization of compounds in which isotopes of carbon, phosphorus, iodine, hydrogen and sulfur are incorporated.
With this equipment, it is possible to trace the fate of compounds and their reaction with bacteria or virus systems.
This technique has been valuable in cancer research, in determining the role of soil bacteria in nitrogen fixation, and in proving that nongreen plants make use of carbon dioxide.
San Francisco Bay is 48 miles long and from four to 13 miles wide. It is estimated that every ship in the world could be anchored in its 456 square miles with room to spare.
COLLEGE MOTEL
Member Best Western Motels
On U.S. Highways 40-59 & K-10 just off of west Lawrence Turnpike interchange on way to business district.
1703 WEST 6TH
Air-Conditioned, Phones, TV Free Coffee, Free Swimming
MR. & MRS. SMEENEY
VI 3-0131
Let's Steal Tickets and Get in Free
TOPEKA —(UPI)— They just wanted to see a picture show once in a while, and treat their buddies. So two brothers, ages 6 and 12, stole 8,000 admission tickets from the Chief Drive-in Theater here.
Police and the theater management decided to keep the burglary quiet and see what happened.
Wheel Balancing Modern Equipment
BOB HARRELL
Texaco Service
9th & Miss.—VI 3-9897
The break came Sunday night when a youth tried to enter the
CAMPUS
Attention
SUMMER SCHOOL
STUDENTS
Need Something Cool to Wear to Class?
Our air-conditioned shoppe is very convenient for between class shopping. Let us fix you up for the summer ahead. Come in... browse around... and have a Coke.
theater with one of the tickets. A round-up followed and at least half the tickets were recovered. The brothers said they had given away half the tickets and played with the rest.
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Grease Job $1
Brake Adj. 98c
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Headquarters for University teams for over 20 years. Check our prices before you buy new or restring your old racket.
821 Mass. VI 3-1951